Already??

Last night we had a babysitter while we went to Wedding Singer (the play). This is the conversation the babysitter and Jace had:

Jace: Do you have a boyfriend?
Sitter: No, do you have a girlfriend?
Jace: Yeah. We fell in love about 2 months ago.
Sitter: Really? What's her name?
Jace: Annie. And, I think I might kiss her tomorrow. But, don't tell my mom and dad. Promise?

I was dying. It can't be starting already. Good thing school is over (Annie was in his school class). I better keep him away from her!

My Graduate

It's official--Jace has graduated from preschool. His program was so cute, and this year, he sang every song loud and clear and did his part perfectly. You could tell he was so happy and proud of himself. He is well prepared for Kindergarten thanks to Miss Tami and Miss Tiffany. They made learning so much fun--Parker can't wait to go next year!

Jace is doing really well at reading books and doing addition and subtraction. He is curious about everything and happy to be entertained with learning. We are working on more things this summer, but my rule is learning at home has to be fun for him, otherwise we stop and wait until it can be fun again. I loved school so much, I want him to feel the same way.

He is such a sweetie and becoming so independent and helpful. He is social and happy and active and such a blessing in my life. Way to go sweetie!

Get to Know James

My baby turned 18 months at the beginning of the month and he is honestly the best child ever. I can't believe how happy he is. If all my babies were like him, I would have 10 more. He is full of life and is so funny, I can tell he'll be our little clown--he's a constant ray of sunshine at our house. Here are some of my favorite things he does:

1.He walks around the house singing "happy, happy, happy, happy"

2. He sings, "I hope nanananana mission!" at the top of his lungs

3. When he wakes up in the morning he is totally happy and calls to us, "Mom! Dad! Where are you???"

4. After he gets out of his crib, he runs to find his brothers and won't stop saying, "Hi Parky, Hi Jace until they acknowlege him"

5. When he sees my good friends at the park, he'll say, "Salllleeeee, and run and give her a big hug."

6. He eats almost everything and would never turn down a treat.

7. He snuggles tight and intensly when he wants to.

8. He loves to kick, dribble and throw all balls, and is obsessed with saying, "I'n baketball in shoot"

9. He is great at going down for bed and naps. The picture by the crib happened the other day when I said, are you ready for night night? I went to get his bottle and he had moved a chair over to his crib and was trying to climb in.

10. He is a monkey and climbs on EVERYTHING. He loves to sit on my bathroom counter and scales the toilet to get there.

11. He loves to make a mess and throw lots of things in the toilet, but he can't stand to be messy.

12. He thinks he is 5 years old, and tries to tackle all of Jace and Parker's friends, and sometimes does.

13. He belly laughs with the other boys and you can't help but laugh too.

14. His two favorite phrases are, "Mom, look at me" and "You can't catch me!"

15. He's the first child I've had to unbutton pants before putting them on.

I love Moms!

To all of you amazing moms out there that I learn so much from, Happy Mother's Day! Sometimes, by the end of the day, I feel like I've been through the washing machine (I'm certain our clothes haven't), but today was a great day!

I usually get really sentimental on Mother's Day, but I'll spare you and share the cute stuff that happened.

1. I slept until 8:30. Best present ever.

2. My kids and hubby brought me breakfast in bed--I went downstairs to eat with them, since syrup and semi-new comforter are not a good mix.

3. I got lots of presents. My very fashionable husband picked out 3 perfect things for me. Jace made me the cuteset recipe card holder ever and a few great cards that were fill in the blank style. He said:

I am as tall as daddy, weigh as much as my mom (score! My mom for sure weighs less than I do), I'm as old as his grandpa, my hair is the color of dirt, he loves me because I make him breakfast every morning, the funniest thing I do is tickle him, I love him because he does nice things for me, My favorite food is vegetables (if he only knew what I ate after he goes to sleep), my favorite thing to do it the laundry...so cute huh?

4. Parker and James made me handprints in nursery.

5. Mike had NO church meetings, so we hung all day together.

6. Mike wouldn't let me do anything and kept telling me to sit and relax, until I wanted to crawl out of my skin, so he let me start doing things.

7. We kept things really simple today, ate pasta for lunch, and smoothies and cookies for dinner on the back patio-my kind of day.

8. We delivered cookies to some great moms and took a walk.

9. My kids told me a million times Happy Mother's Day, with that, "I'm so proud of myself" smile on their face.

Just a quick sentimental note: I have amazing women and examples in my life. My mom, mother-in-law, and grandmothers have all been examples of strong women who dedicate themselves to their family without ever losing who they are. I'm so grateful to have had such happy, loving women in my life.

I'm so grateful I was able to be a mom. My children have taught me patience and selfless love. They have opened my eyes to the difficulties of others and allowed me to be so much more grateful for what I have. I"ve learned empathy, because I hurt when they hurt and rejoice when they do--I've started to be able to do that with others too. They keep me up at night but give me something to wake up for in the early morning. The run me down and build me up in the same instant and put a smile on my face when one minute before I wanted to yell. They increase my love for my husband as I watch him become a better man than I ever dreamed he would be. They've taught me innocene and quick forgiveness, and have helped me to understand just a little how God might feel about us.

I shudder to think at the person I would be without them. Some people say they lose themselves when they have children, but honestly, through them, I'm beginning to see who I was really meant to be.

So, what does Sabbath Day Holy really mean?

This past weekend Jace was invited to a birthday party for one of his favorite soccer friends. The bummer was, it was on Sunday. We are good friends with the family and Mike plays soccer with his dad. They know we are Mormon, but we are the first Mormons they've ever been friends with. He thought we still practiced polygamy...
Anyway, so I tell him immediately that we can't come and he's obviously hurt. He tells me that there is a Mormon church right by their house, we can go there, then come over. After all, we don't want to miss the giant waterslide and dunk tank. He questions and pushes a bit more than I am used to. I really wanted to go too, and I knew Jace wanted to and it wasn't going to be easy to say no. The dad was feeling hurt, knowing how disappointed his son would be. No parent likes their child to feel bad, especially not on their birthday.
As we walked away, I was trying to figure out how we could justify going. Maybe we could drop a present off and say hello in our Sunday clothes. Maybe we could come and eat, but not really play, after all we invite families over to dinner almost every Sunday and the adults eat and chat while the kids play. We take family bike rides and eat other peoples cookies. What's the difference?
When we were almost to the car, Jace said, "Mom, I know what the right answer is, We don't go to birthday parties on Sunday."
I was amazed and shocked at his quick and content answer. So matter of fact, no fit throwing. Wow, what a 5 year old.
He taught me a lesson--we act the way we say we believe; that's what makes us who we are. Thank you Jace.
To make it up to the family and our cute little friend, we took him for pizza and bowling with our family and gave him his own extra special birthday night, just with us. Sometimes, you really can have it all.